A diary of a legionary serving with XX Valeria

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

The Roman Conquest of Britain Coursework 2 A diary of a legionary serving with XX Valeria Michael Brooks 10-1 My name is Spurius Tiberius. This diary is an account of my experience of being in the XX Valeria legion. This diary is being written for my Mater and Pater to have when I pass away. Sending letters is difficult from such an unknown, unmapped land and writing the messages is difficult at times when my country needs me. We have not even departed on the invasion to the unexplained land, and there are already problems being posed. Firstly, a few members have mentioned to me how marching is far too strenuous, as there is so much equipment to carry and very far distances to cover. The army were understandably uneasy about Britain and the ocean - foreign to us Romans. Even though I was full of excitement when marching, as I felt prepared to face the challenge of a barbaric land, when reaching the coast, anxiety overcame me. Due to this, I joined in the mutiny of objecting to campaign outside the limits of the known world. ...read more.

Middle

They underestimated us great Romans! They had heard of the mutiny and remembered Caligula's invasion attempt, and judged us on this - what fools! This is a great advantage to us, as we are ready to fight, and they are not. I am completely worn out - I have just been part of making a temporary camp. As the ground was uneven, it had to be levelled. The camp was marked out in the form of a square next. As we were making this, I saw how well planned this was done. We then built the interior, then the exterior, which has towers spaced out at regular intervals. This makes me proud in the advancement of our force, but also makes me feel protected, as the towers are for keeping an eye on the enemy, so our army will be alerted as soon as the enemy is sighted. I feel further protected as artillery is positioned between the towers and the entire camp is defended with ditches. After making the camp I felt very satisfied, as I contributed to the making of it, and as I looked at the greatness of it for such a short period of time in making, I felt very proud. ...read more.

Conclusion

Every legionary was well equipped with the same high standard weaponry, which does not make me feel below anyone - I feel equal and united, as well as proud again, as the Britons weaponry was nowhere near as advanced as ours. The barbarians underestimated our force again; they thought that just by destroying a bridge at the river Medway that we could not get across the river. Our auxiliaries, who impress me as they bring advantageous, different fighting methods into the battle, swam across the river. I admire them for their bravery - they are normally first into battle, however, they are foreign, so I do not see them as valuable members of the army as myself. I must go now, I am needed in battle. To the mother and father of Spurius, I am sad to inform you that in the most recent battle Spurius was killed. He was a great warrior, and he was also a great Roman. In the odds of all battles, and in all he could have complained about - the marching, the pay deductions - he stayed loyal and knew he as doing things for the good of his country. Yours, his good friend Menenius. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Classics section.

Related GCSE Classics essays

like the elephants were only animals, they could still be injured and stopped. In the centre were the phalanx and the Greek cavalry. A second line of infantry was following them, Alexander ordered them all to turn around and fight the enemy if they became surrounded as there was a

All of a sudden a man started crying in the corner of the room, he said that that table that had just been placed under Alexander's feet was the same table that his master Darius had used to eat his food on .

Pausanias 1.29.2 "In the Academy there is a small temple, to which they bring each year the statue of Dionysus of Eleutherae on the determined days." Dionysus Eleutherios' statue is taken to the Academy when it's needed, at the beginning of the festival.

It was a metal point attached to a wooden rod. The pilum, when jabbed into the shield of an enemy, would split the enemy's scutum, meaning that the enemy would no longer be able to use his scutum, making him more vulnerable to impact from further attacks.

Ancient Greece was highly advanced in medicine: they originally came up with the idea of the four humours and many of their cures were based on scientific principles that are still used today, and their ethical approach to medicine has again been adapted and is much the same today as

As no one could decide on one thing, as everyone wanted something different, we decided to collect money and to promote the idea. We thought of different promotion ideas and did advantages and disadvantages of each and voted, we had voted to do a presentation.

This led to situations where peasants would unknowingly ask their candidate for ostracism to write their own name down, as was the case with Aristides. Also, as in the case of Themistocles, people could be ostracised by their opponents simply writing their name down on hundreds of different ostrakons, which obviously wasn't fair.

It was a most amusing spectacle. Agamemnon decided to test the courage of his troops (probably to see what effect my leaving had on them Patroclus said) by telling them that they were giving up and going home. Guess what, without me there to raise moral, they ran and started preparing the ships.